The blog of the JRN 320 multimedia newsroom course at Stony Brook University.

The big pictures of the big game

The Boston Globe has a photo bog called The Big Picture, where newsworthy events or issues are told using photographs and brief captions. It’s a shorter but still effective way to inform users by doing more showing than telling the news. An example of this can be seen in The Big Picture‘s coverage of Super Bowl XLIX. Using 38 photos, The Big Picture captured the big moments before, during and after the game for footballs fans and casual readers alike.

The story opens with the basic news story; Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, holding the prized Lombardi Trophy high amidst confetti and celebration of the Patriots winning their fourth Super Bowl. It shows the Patriots’ most popular player holding up the trophy signifying that the Patriots won the game. That’s the most basic form of the story; The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl. If someone was scrolling through their Twitter or Facebook feed and only wanted to know who won the game, seeing that photo would tell that person everything.

For a more detailed look at the game, the story goes deeper. Photos of critical moments in the game are shown to give more visual context. The blog covers the whole game, from Patriots receiver Julian Edelman and Seattle Seahawks’ defensive back Jeremy Lane colliding after Lane intercepted a pass in the first quarter to Patriots defensive back Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass from Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson in the last seconds of the fourth quarter. The essential moments of the game are presented to give users a quick slideshow of how the game was played.

As much as the game is about the players, the reactions of the fans can be something equally newsworthy. The blog shows photos of both Patriots and Seahawks fans at the game, appropriately decked out in fan gear. Along with those photos are some of Patriots fans watching the game in Boston and celebrating in the streets. The blog shows these photos of fans to show more features of the story.

If the blog has any faults, it’s that there’s too much focus on the Patriots. Now this may be because the Patriots represent Boston and The Big Picture is a blog from a Boston publication, it would have been more interesting to see shots of the Seahawks reacting to the loss. Without this, the blog seems to favor the Patriots and their win instead of covering the game. This is still reporting on a newsworthy event, but it still seems a bit biased to the blog’s home team.